Message Board

Author Ibsen's Book
Reviews

A Doll's House
Torvald Helmer has finally gotten the promotion he always dreamed of. His wife, Nora, is also happy but there's one problem: years ago, one of the bank's employees lent her the necessary money to heal Torvald from a disease that could have killed him. This employee threatens Nora to tell Helmer about the money she still owes, but she must stop this, since Helmer is too proud to be in debt.
Helmer finds out anyway, and insults Nora. Nora can't believ...Ghosts
Oswald returns home after decades of living in Paris. He's a painter, and in his return he reveals he's sick and needs caring. Mrs. Alving, his mother, is willing to do so, and she tells him stories about his father, Captain Alving, a hero of his town. In fact, Mrs. Alving is even building an orphanage in his memory, with the help of Mr. Manders, a priest.
But, as Mr. Manders soon discovers, Captain Alving was anything but a saint. Mrs. Alving revea...Hedda Gabler
Hedda and her new husband, Tesman, return from their honeymood to find that the position at the university he had hoped for will probably be contested by an old acquaintance, Eilert Lovberg. Lovberg was one of Hedda's old flames, but she had rejected him because she thought he lacked prospects. Now she finds he has reformed and has done some very serious writing, much more important work than that of her husband. Lovberg, an alcoholic, gets drunk, and...Rosmersholm
Johannes Rosmer, who had been a stalwart among the conservatives has decided to announce his conversion to the new liberalism. He is in love with a young lady, Rebecca West, who has come into his house to help care for his sick wife and remained after the wife's death. His brother-in- law,Kroll, who is also a representative of the conservative party threatens to blackmail him by revealing his deceased wife's suspicions about his relationship with the yo...

Ibsen booklist

The Lady From the Sea
Before her marriage to Dr. Wangel, Ellida, his second wife, had promised herself to a sailor who had then disappeared. Years later as the play begins, Ellida's family life is strained. Her relations with her step daughters is poor; she has no child of her own. She seems unhappy with her life. Then the sailor reappears to make his claim on her promise. Faced wiht the decision of what to do, she persuades her husband that she must have the chance to ma...